Garment supporting bar for wire garment hangers



Jan. 10, 1961 G. MCDONALD 2,967,648

GARMENT SUPPORTING BAR FOR WIRE GARMENT HANGERS Filed Aug. 27, 1958 INVENTOR G/LMOUR MC DONALD BY 99% fi AGENT United States PatentC) GARMENT SUPPORTING BAR FOR WIRE GARMENT HANGERS Gilmour McDonald, Box 4302, Washington 12, DC.

Filed Aug. 27, 1958, Ser. No. 757,542

2 Claims. (Cl. 223-98) This invention relates to supports and more particularly to a detachable garment supporting bar for application to a conventional wire garment hanger.

As is well known, conventional wire garment hangers are relatively flexible and frequently the horizontal member which is utilized to support trousers or skirts frequently sags in the middle thereby causing the garments to slide toward the middle resulting in undesirable wrinkles or creases therein. Furthermore, the relatively small diameter of the horizontal member often results in causing undesirable cross creases in the garments if the same are hung thereon for any appreciable period of time and furthermore, the small diameter of this member pro vides relatively little friction which results in the garments slipping therefrom and falling to the floor unless the same are carefully draped thereover to afford substantially equal weight on each side of the horizontal member to balance the downward forces thereon.

It has been attempted in the past to overcome these difficulties by providing additional members of cardboard or other material to be positioned over the horizontal member of the hanger, but such cardboard members frequently become detached and furthermore, are not usually of sufiicient rigidity to adequately support the garments thereon. While such cardboard members are a distinct improvement over the wire hanger per se, nevertheless, they do not provide a complete and satisfactory solution to the problems set forth above.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a garment supporting bar for wire garment hangers which may be conveniently and economically constructed from readily available materials and expeditiously attached or removed from the garment hanger and constructed in a manner to substantially prevent inadvertent removal from such hanger.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a garment supporting bar for conventional wire garment hangers which may be conveniently applied to such hangers without necessitating modification thereof.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a garment supporting bar for conventional wire garment hangers in which such bar is constructed of it substantially rigid material and which is of suflicient cross sectional area to provide adequate friction to prevent slippage of garments draped thereover and also to prevent the formation of creases in the garments where the same are in contact with the bar.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a garment supporting bar for conventional wire garment hangers and in which the manner of attaching the bar to the hanger prevents rotation of the bar, thereby firmly holding garments in place which are draped thereover.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction With the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a conventional wire garment hanger with the garment supporting bar of this invention in place thereon; and

side members 12 and 13 which are twisted together at 14 and terminate in a suspension hook 15 normally utilized to suspend the hanger from a bar or other suitable support.

As is well known, hangers of this type are conventionally formed of relatively small gauge steel wire and such wire is quite flexible. When trousers, skirts or other garments are draped over the horizontal member 11, the same tends to sag at the center thereby causing the garments to slip toward the center resulting in undesirable wrinkles therein. Furthermore, the relatively small diameter of the horizontal member 11 provides little friction for engagement with the garments to prevent slippage thereof from such member.

In order to avoid such difliculties, the present invention contemplates the provision of an elongated rod 16 of wood or other suitable substantially rigid material and the rod 16 has a diameter, if round, or a cross sectional area if of other configuration, materially greater than the diameter or cross sectional area of the horizontal member 11 of the hanger 10. It is also to be noted, that the rod 16 is of less length than the length of the horizontal member 11.

With particular reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the bar 16 is provided at one end thereof with an axial bore 17 and slidably disposed in this bore 17 is a plunger 18. A compression spring 19 is disposed in the bore 17 and engages the inner end 2%) thereof, as well as the inner end 21 of the plunger 13 in order to urge the plunger 18 outwardly of the bore 17. While a compression spring 19 has been shown and described, it Will be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only and that any suitable resilient or yieldable material, such as rubber or other equivalent means may be utilized to urge the plunger 18 outwardly.

The plunger 18 is provided in its outer end 22 with a transverse groove 23 and the opposite end 24 of the rod 16 is provided with a transverse groove 25 in alignment with the groove 23 in the plunger 18.

As clearly shown in Fig. l, the garment supporting bar of this invention is applied to the hanger 10 with the. rod 16 in engagement with the horizontal member 11 of the hanger 10 and with the transverse grooves 23 and 25 serving to receive the bent end portions 26 and 27 of the upwardly converging side members 12 and 13 respectively. Obviously, the garment supporting bar of this invention is attached to the hanger 10 by moving the plunger 18 inwardly of the bore 17 in the rod 16 and upon application of the groove 25 to the bent end 27 of the hanger 10, the plunger 18 may be released to engage the groove 23 therein over the bent end 26 of the hanger 10 to retain the garment supporting bar in place thereon. The bar may be removed by moving the plunger 18 inwardly to release the grooves 23 and 25 from the bent end portions 26 and 27 respectively of the hanger 10.

Since the rod 16 is of materially greater cross section than the horizontal member 11 of the hanger 10, adequate friction will be provided between garments draped thereover and the rod 16 and furthermore, the transverse grooves 23 and 25 will prevent rotation of the rod 16 relative to the hanger 10. The garment supporting bar of this invention may be manufactured and sold in conjunction with the hanger 10 or may be sold separately and attached to the hanger at a later time. The sim- Pat ented Jan. 10, 19e1 plicity of construction, as well as the low cost material employed results in providing a device which may be economically manufactured and which may be utilized without any modification whatsoever of the conventional hanger 10 and need only be applied thereto and utilized when it is desired to support trousers, skirts or other garments on the horizontal portion of the hanger.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a garment supporting bar and a wire garment hanger of the type having a horizontal member and upwardly converging side members terminating in a suspension hook, said bar comprising an elongated rod of substantially rigid material, said rod being round in cross section, of greater diameter and of less length than said horizontal member, an axial bore in one end of said rod, a plunger slidably received in said bore, a compression spring in said bore for urging said plunger outwardly of said rod and aligned transverse grooves in the outer end of said plunger and the opposite end of said rod, said rod being attached to said hanger 4 with said side members received in said grooves and with said rod engaging said horizontal member to support garments draped over said rod.

2. The combination of a garment supporting bar and a wire garment hanger of the type having a horizontal member and upwardly converging side members terminating in a suspension hook, said bar comprising an elongated rod of substantially rigid material, said rod being of greater cross sectional area and of less length than said horizontal member, an axially slidable member on one end of said rod, means for urging said slidable member outwardly of said rod and means on said slidable member and the opposite end of said rod engaging said side members,

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,187,535 Aljian Jan. 16, 1940 2,423,961 Buxton July 15, 1947 2,590,738 Tufts Mar. 25, 1952 2,623,667 Salaman Dec. 30, 1952 2,687,243 Rasmussen Aug. 24, 1954 

